Talk:Brussels

Infobox picture

I was thinking of putting one of these pictures I found in the commons up as the infobox picture, since the old image was deleted. They would help people looking at the article an idea about how part of Brussels looks, but didn't want to make the change if no one agreed with me. The Panorama looks good when put at the right size in the infobox. Anoldtreeok (talk) 09:13, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

Strictly speaking, the modern buildings in it are still under "copyright", so these are no better than the panorama. However, I think this is a good policy gone excessively paranoid, so I'll put up the second. We could also make a collage with only old buildings if we wanted... Oreo Priest ^talk 16:14, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

Brussels REGION is the de facto capital CITY of the EU?

Do we have any reason to believe (i.e. references) that it is the REGION Brussels that is the de facto capital of the EU, as opposed to the CITY of Brussels? If no such references exist, I propose that we change the article so that the CITY of Brussels is the de facto capital. I'm proposing this because OH MY GOD IT IS SO CONFUSING TO SEE BRUSSELS AS THE CAPITAL CITY OF THE EU, BUT NOT OF BELGIUM, BECAUSE THE ARTICLE IS ACTUALLY ABOUT THE REGION, AND HOW CAN THE REGION BE A CAPITAL CITY? IT CAN'T! BUT IT CAN OF THE EU! OMG IT TOOK ME LIKE HALF HOUR TO FIGURE ALL OF THIS OUT!!! </rant> (hope there's not Wikipedia rules against capitalized rants) Gabiteodoru (talk) 05:41, 11 January 2011 (UTC)

The "Region" is just the legal status of the entity. It's really just a big city that everyone calls "Brussels". The City of Brussels is a municipality within the city. It's probably easiest to think of it as a capital city that technically has the same powers as a Region, somewhat in the same way that Washinton DC is an autonomous region. Oreo Priest ^talk 20:45, 11 January 2011 (UTC)

Yes. People were very careful about not calling the region the capital of Belgium, but calling the city the capital of Belgium (I understand that here it doesn't actually have to do with its region/city status, but with the Belgian constitution). However, shouldn't we be equally careful about whether to call the city or the region the de facto capital of the EU? I feel that currently we are not, and think we should fix that. Gabiteodoru (talk) 00:57, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

They don't have to be different. A region/district/state can be a capital city. See Berlin. What's for sure is that it's not the City of Brussels municipality that's the de facto capital, most of the institutions aren't even in it. Oreo Priest ^talk 11:19, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

Are they not? (Well, I do see that you are (interested in things?) Belgian, so I am taking that into account). But when I stare at this map, it seems that the most important ones (Justus Lipsius, Espace Leopold), are actually within the City of Brussels. Is that incorrect?

Also, do any of Belgium's official institutions fall outside the City of Brussels? If yes, then one can argue that although the City of Brussels is the official capital of Belgium, the Region Brussels if the de facto capital of Belgium. Gabiteodoru (talk) 15:56, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

I believe the Berlaymont is also within the City of Brussels. Some of the offices (various DGs and so on) are based in other municipalities, however.

While it doesn't explicitly say it, the article already basically implies that the region is the de facto capital of Belgium in the second paragraph of the "In Belgian politics" section, I think. --David Edgar (talk) 12:56, 13 January 2011 (UTC)

My mistake. And David Edgar is correct on all counts. Oreo Priest ^talk 13:27, 13 January 2011 (UTC)

OK, I've edited the page saying that the region is the de facto capital, the city is the de jure capital. I think it reads better and is less confusing when writing it like this. Take a look and see if you're happy with the changes. Thanks! Gabiteodoru (talk) 16:21, 13 January 2011 (UTC)

I removed the constitution bit as it's too much detail for the lead, and it's explained later on. Otherwise, your changes look good. FYI there is a rule against capitalized rants on WP, it's considered yelling and uncivil. No harm done though. Oreo Priest ^talk 19:38, 13 January 2011 (UTC)

OK. The constitution part was already there before my edit, it said "constitutional capital". Let's pat ourselves on the back for another successful edit! :) And I'll try to stay off the capitalized rants :) Gabiteodoru (talk) 19:49, 13 January 2011 (UTC)

Missing Twin City

There may be a city missing from the sister/twinning cities list. The Wikipedia entry for Manneken Pis states:

"There is also a statue of Manneken Pis in Tokushima, Japan, which was a present from the Belgian embassy (Tokushima being twinned with Brussels)."

I don't know how to verify this nor do I know how to edit the sister cities listings. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bruce A. WIlliamson (talk • contribs) 00:04, 30 April 2011 (UTC)

First Solvay conference was not in 1927

If you follow the link supplied with the picture of the 1927 Solvay conference, you come to the wikipedia page which unambiguously states that the first conference was in 1911. The subtext on the picture on the 'Brussels' page states the first conference was in 1927. Please fix this. 129.241.172.204 (talk) 08:09, 28 September 2011 (UTC)

Image

I made this image last may and I'm wondering if it can be added somewhere in this article. Image link --Viscontino (talk) 21:19, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

I've added it to the article Grand Place, but I don't think it really belongs in the article on Brussels as a whole. -Oreo Priest ^talk 15:13, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

You're right. --Viscontino (talk) 14:10, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

Huge problem in the introduction

In the second sentence of the introduction, the sentence cannot be found when editing but is still within the article... — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nuitblanchisseur (talk • contribs) 23:42, 29 March 2012 (UTC)

• I think we're dealing with a server lag here. The edit was reverted--it's in memory somewhere but needs to be refreshed. Considering donating to Wikipedia for better hardware... Drmies (talk) 23:46, 29 March 2012 (UTC)
• Done. Thanks for letting us know. Drmies (talk) 23:50, 29 March 2012 (UTC)

German version of the name

Seeing as Belgium is trilingual (I know Brussels isn't), shouldn't German be added to the Dutch and French translations of the city's name? After all, it's the capital of trilingual Belgium. --Cymru123 (talk) 14:07, 28 August 2012 (UTC)

Most people don't seem to think it should. Or so has been my observation from watching this page anyways. I can see your point, but it isn't really a local language, so I am ever so slightly against including it. To be honest though I don't really think it makes a big difference one way or the other. Oreo Priest ^talk 15:08, 28 August 2012 (UTC)

Welsh is an official language in Wales. Should the London article show the Welsh name for London, Llundain? It surely does not, and neither shall Brussels show its name in German. "Belgium" is no more, in fact in a way rather less, trilingual than the UK heptalingual: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Scots, Ulster Scots, Welsh, Cornish - "recognised regional languages" according to the infobox - which six are much like all three languages of Belgium, a country that does not have any "official language" in the sense of English in the UK: to be officially accepted in all locations.

Exactly like in the UK however, there is no location anywhere that is supposed to accept all the country's languages.
​▲ SomeHuman 2012-10-31 21:30 - 2012-11-01 00:25 (UTC)

Although I agree with your conclusion, to be fair SomeHuman, all of the Federal Government's websites are available in German, and if you buy medication anywhere in the country it will have all three national languages on it. So German in Belgium is slightly more 'national' than Welsh in the UK, but only slightly. Oreo Priest ^talk 15:02, 1 November 2012 (UTC)

Glad we agree, basically. I'm not quite sure though, whether the pharmacological practice is a legal requirement or simply the cheapest solution to distribute medicinal products (including the many marked A, B or C on the package as recognized for the health insurance system), which all must adhere to language regulations for being sold in the different areas, in a small market. The Belgian federal government does indeed have the obligation to follow the better practice, compared to the UK's in London, which 'profits' from one official language being valid in all its regions, as I had mentioned.
​▲ SomeHuman 2012-11-05 16:33-17:06 (UTC)

I take it that you were not suggesting a Directive Peeters bis: In Flemish municipalities with language facilities, a pharmacist must deliver medicinal products accompanied by documents only in the sole official language of the region, unless and only upon each separate request for documentation in the language of inhabitants enjoying these facilities.   ;-D
​▲ SomeHuman 2012-11-05 17:31 (UTC)

2012 population figures

The official population figures have been updated, see http://statbel.fgov.be/nl/binaries/3_Wettelijke_bevolking_per_gemeente_2011_2012_G_NL_tcm325-194205.xls the official population of brussels 1.138.854 as of jan 1st 2012, however I'm not entirely sure how to change the infobox without screwing it up so I'm just mentioning it here, this is the figure of what people usually understand as "Brussel" (aka the region) the population of the "Brussels" minicipality is now 166.497, I'm sure the metro area has changed too but I don't know which municipalities are taken into account to calculate the metro population The population density of the region has risen to 1.138.854/161.38= 7057/km² --Lamadude (talk) 12:41, 20 December 2012 (UTC)

Musulman's 35% in the city.

Musulman's 35% in the city. Why Steals this information ? Thank you DeHoopAntoin (talk) 17:24, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to say. Maybe try rephrasing? Oreo Priest ^talk 18:13, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

Should all things, a foreigner "formulate another" mean? But will try a Belgian <Chevalier> find it.Feromon1234 (talk) 14:32, 25 June 2013 (UTC)

@DeHoopAntoin, ik zie al wat u probeert met uw zeer gebrekkige Engels: Brussel zwartmaken. Zal niet lukken hoor. Brussel is de enigste stad van belang in België, terwijl Antwerpen maar een simpele kleinburgerlijke provinciestad is.

Wikidata problem?

I notice that when I click on "edit links" under the interwiki list of this article I get to Q9005 in Wikidata, also called "Brussels", to which, however, this article does not belong (it is in Q240 = Brussels-Capital Region). Could we have a problem here? Is Wikidata assuming that names in Wikidata and the English Wikipedia are always the same? – Umbert' (talk) 20:53, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

In the meantime the topic "Brussels" in Wikidata is marked as "City of Brussels (Belgium's capital) and Brussels-Capital Region, as a combined topic", and somehow "edit links" now links to "Brussels-Capital Region" (240) alright. Somebody seems to have juggled with "Brussels", "Brussels-Capital Region", and "City of Brussels" in the right way. – Umbert' (talk) 19:59, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

I got a Wikidata problem too. I can't Thai wikilinks into this article through wikidata. It says something about this item already existed even I didn't see any link to Thai Wikipedia. I tried the classic way of adding the link manually too, but it seems adding through wikidata is the only way now. --Kelos omos1 (talk) 16:21, 15 April 2013 (UTC)

Three Languages ​​in the City: French, Arabic and Dutch.

User IP <77,181,231,147> whined because flood of illegal immigrants from Algeria, Morocko, Syria, right? But, without faithful services immigrants from North Africa could Flemish separatists can hope to a region with fämisch segregate the city. Also Arab para-Police, mostly frankofonierende, makes a strong performance for the city's security. However, under proffessionele leadership and coordination.IP897567896 (talk) 14:52, 3 June 2013 (UTC)